Lewis S. Van Derbeken

Mr. Van Derbeken was born in 1924 and grew up in Los Angeles, where he attended Otis Parsons Art Institute art school and launched a creative career as an innovator and inventor in the art world. For over 50 years, he designed everything from wrought iron furniture to a giant resin sculpture of a Volkswagen headlight. He was also a prolific photographer, lithographer, ceramicist, painter, silk screener. He also created homemade kites and even carved soap.

Mr. Van Derbeken received several juried art show awards for his color field and super graphical images in the 1960s. He later employed watercolor and airbrush techniques to depict street scenes of Venice, trees on the Santa Monica beachfront as well as homeless denizens of nearby Palisades Park.

In his early career, Mr. Van Derbeken designed and built furniture and was awarded patents for some of his designs. He was later a graphic artist for McDonnell Douglas, then founded Optima Corporation with Norm Holtzman, and eventually worked for the Chiat Day advertising firm.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked for the WED division of Disney Corp., where he designed the rotating mural for the America Sings exhibit as well as posters, various packaging designs and other graphics for attractions at Disneyland, Disney World and Epcot.

He then joined GTE, designing venue posters for the 1984 Olympics, and later did layout and design for Soaring Magazine.

He was predeceased by Betty Jean Meline, his wife of 30 years, who died in 1986. Mr. Van Derbeken is survived by his sons, Derik Van Derbeken, 56 of Los Angeles, and Jaxon Van Derbeken, 54 of Berkeley, California